The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) established several field agencies in South Dakota to administer Indian programs on eight different reservations. Various Sioux tribes lived on those reservations, including the Santee, Teton (Brule and Oglala), Yankton, and Yanktonnais. Other Indian tribes who lived in South Dakota in the early nineteenth century included the Arikara, Cheyenne, Omaha, and Poncas.

Tribes and Bands of South Dakota

The following list of American Indians who have lived in South Dakota has been compiled from Hodge's Handbook of American Indians...[1] and from Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America[2]. Some may simply be variant spellings for the same tribe.

Four Bands of Lakota Sioux: Minnecoujou, Two Kettle, Sans Arc, and Blackfoot

Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Agencies and sub-agencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value were created by these offices.

The following list of agencies that have operated or now exist in South Dakota has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs...[3], Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians[4], and others.

Records

The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:

Allotment Records

Indian Schools

The Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) established a network of schools throughout the United States, beginning with Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879. Some of these schools were day schools, usually focusing on Indian children of a single tribe or reservation. Some were boarding schools which served Indian children from a number of tribes and reservations.

In addition, other groups such as various church denominations established schools specifically focusing on American Indian children. (read more...)

The following list of Indian Schools in South Dakota has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs...[5], Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians[6], and others.

Indian Health Facilities

Records Available through the Family History Library

The Family History Library has 130 microfilms of BIA records from the Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Sisseton, Standing Rock, and other agencies. These include birth, marriage, death, adoption, census, school, land allotment, probate, military, and miscellaneous records. Most of the records were created between 1870 and 1970.

These records are listed in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under NATIVE RACES and other subjects such as CENSUS, VITAL RECORDS, and LAND AND PROPERTY. You will also find records listed in the subject section of the FamilySearch Catalog under the names of the tribe, such as SIOUX INDIANS.

The original BIA records are at the National Archives—Central Plains Region at Kansas City, MO (see Archives and Libraries Section above for address).

Reservations

From the mid-1800s, the official policy of the United States government toward the American Indian was to confine each tribe to a specific parcel of land called a reservation. Agencies were established on or near each reservation. A government representative, usually called an agent (or superintendent) was assigned to each agency. Their duties included maintaining the peace, making payments to the Native Americans based on the stipulations of the treaties with each tribe, and providing a means of communication between the native population and the federal government.

Sometimes, a single agency had jurisdiction over more than one reservation. And sometimes, if the tribal population and land area required it, an agency may have included sub-agencies.

The boundaries of reservations, over time, have changed. Usually, that means the reservations have been reduced in size. Sometimes, especially during the later policy of "termination," the official status of reservations was ended altogether.

For a current reservation map - South Dakota - Indian Reservations - The National Atlas of the United States of America. Federal Lands and Indian Reservations. by the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Geological Survey.

The following list of reservations has been compiled from the National Atlas of the United States of America[7], the Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America[8], and other sources. Those reservations named in bold are current federally-recognized reservations, with their associated agency and tribe(s). Others have historically been associated with the state or are not currently recognized by the federal government.

Spotted Tail Reservation -- Prior to 1878, this was the name for the current Rosebud Reservation (see above).

Standing Rock Reservation -- Standing Rock Reservation is located in south-central North Dakota and in north-central South Dakota. It consists of over 3500 square miles in Sioux County, North Dakota and Corson County, South Dakota, along with small parts of Dewey and Ziebach Counties, South Dakota, The population of 8250 (2000 pop. figures) are Dakota and Lakota Sioux.

↑Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981. (FHL book 970.1 H551g.)

↑Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981. FHL book 970.1 H551g.

↑National Atlas of the United States of America -- Federal Lands and Indian Reservations Available online.

↑Isaacs. Katherine M., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices, Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E, Indian Reservations. Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991.(Family History Library book 973 E5)